W-B parking authority granted more time to compile records

The Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority needs more time to comply with a federal subpoena for records, the authority's solicitor said Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors had demanded authority representatives deliver the documents on Tuesday to a grand jury seated in Scranton, but they granted a request for an additional several weeks to comply, parking authority solicitor Murray Ufberg said.

"I obtained a substantial extension of time within which to produce those documents to the U.S. Attorney's Office because they are voluminous and we have a lot of examination and copying to do," Ufberg said during a telephone call Tuesday.

The grand jury session set for Tuesday was cancelled anyway, court officials said, because a downtown Scranton parking garage near the federal courthouse was closed for an inspection.

The subpoena seeks all records regarding the public-private partnership behind the 2012 proposal to lease the city's parking assets - an effort that was eventually abandoned.

Federal authorities are seeking invoices and contracts for attorney Alan Wohlstetter of the Fox Rothschild Law Firm in Philadelphia, which was hired by the authority to solicit bids, and former city Administrator J.J. Murphy, who was later hired at $300 per hour by the law firm as a consultant, according to a copy of the subpoena.

The subpoena, delivered to the authority on April 11, also asks for meeting agendas, meeting minutes, correspondence, invoices, email correspondence, receipts, electronic fund transfers and agreements where those consultants were present.

Ufberg said it will be a large task to compile everything federal authorities are requesting.

"I got an extension of time. We won't be producing them for a few weeks. We have to produce all the documentation required," Ufberg said. "The U.S. Attorney was very gracious to give us additional time."

As The Citizens' Voice has previously reported, Murphy advised Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton to recommend Fox Rothschild to help the city generate bids for leasing its parking assets. Murphy's brother, a former U.S. congressman, was a partner at the firm at the time. The parking authority approved Leighton's recommendation in January 2012 and Fox Rothschild later hired Murphy as a consultant for the deal at $300 per hour after Murphy left his job with the city.

In June 2012, the parking authority fired Fox Rothschild and abandoned the idea of leasing the city's parking assets, with board members claiming they were repeatedly "misled" throughout the process.

Leighton had strongly advocated for exploring the lease of the city's parking assets, saying it could generate $20 million for the city.

At the time, authority secretary Ed Katarsky accused Leighton of "pushing us, pressuring us" to have Fox Rothschild oversee the process and allowing Murphy to be the consultant. Meanwhile, Leighton denied responsibility for Murphy being hired as a consultant.

Murphy became the city manager of Hobbs, N.M., in August 2012 and still holds that position.

Asked when the grand jury will meet again, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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